Falling Man by Don DeLillo

Falling Man is a 246 page novel about events occurring immediately following the fall of the Twin Towers on 9/11/2001. I read this novel for my American literature course, and consequently had to write a paper for it — this review will be pre-paper, so I don’t get sick of writing about the book.

The narrative starts in immediately with a well-crafted sentence in the midst of the falling debris of the first tower’s demise, “It was not a street anymore but a world, a time and space of falling ash and near night.” The story follows a man, Keith, who worked in, and therefore escaped from, the north tower. It also focuses on his wife (separated, before the fall) Lianne, Lianne’s mother Nina and Nina’s lover Martin, Lianne and Kieth’s son Justin, and the two terrorists-to-be, Hammad and Amir.

The narrative is, I don’t want to say monotonous, but I can’t think of another word for it. It’s non-linear, fragmented, and sometimes does interesting things, but mostly it’s just a telling of thoughts and feelings of whichever character is the first person narrator at the time.  There was a definite static feeling of the plot; I would maybe call it a flatline or even an example of the still life (natura morta!) that Lianne and Nina obsess over so much.  The dialogue gets confusing at times — no one is credited to having said something, you just have to figure out who is speaking by framing the conversation in the narrative; this is more difficult than it should be.

I didn’t hate this book;  I liked it, but definitely did not loved it. I actually also disliked Kieth, and yet I sympathized with him a lot — he was relatable in a really distant, quiet sort of way; I enjoyed the fact that his story wasn’t all tidy in the end. It seemed realistic that not everything was tied up in the end. My favorite part and characters were the to-be terrorists, Hammad and Amir (Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta). Their parts were so surreal, and yet completely realistic at the same time. Their stories were easily the best and more interesting parts of the novel. In it’s entirety, the book was like a puzzle that had quite a few pieces that just didn’t seem to fit together that well; in the end though, once you put the puzzle together, it was a great picture of domestic life in the aftermath of 9/11.

DeLillo’s writing had a very high literary feel; sometimes this worked extremely well, other times not so much. It seemed as if he was just trying too hard to seem lofty. Though the times it worked made it worth the times it did not. Overall, it was a decent book, though I wouldn’t recommend it for light reading.

Black Hole by Charles Burns

I read Black Hole for my graphic novel class. I had never heard of, and had no idea what to expect. Although it doesn’t have page numbers, Goodreads says it is 352 pages long. It felt a lot shorter than that, as it moved extremely quickly. I finished it in two sittings. However, the content makes it seem longer — this was a strange book.

I honestly got confused with this plot, which isn’t something I can say about a lot of novels. This may have been, in part, because of the fact that two male characters (and even the main female character) all looked alike — they all had black shoulder length hair with short bangs. I plan to go back through, and reread the novel again knowing that the two guys, Keith and Rob, are not the same person. Now this may have been a hard mistake to make for some, but it made things a little confusing at first for me.

I believe the basic plot takes place in the 70s and is structured around Rob and Chris, who have a rocky start to a relationship, and their various friends. The other possible main character is Keith, who I figured out was a separate person from Rob about halfway in… All these people are somehow dealing with a type of ‘bug’ or disease that is being spread through sexual contact/saliva that physically disfigures people in strange ways (facial restructuring, growing new body parts — Rob’s second mouth, for example). This was really odd, and not well explained, but interesting all the same. This disease is incurable, and makes people social outcasts. Many who have it resort to living in the woods, stealing food to get by, and avoiding normal society.

One thing that really struck me about this book was, unsurprisingly, the artwork. Partially because the characters do drugs quite a bit, and also partially due to the weirdness of their world, the artwork was beautiful and mind-opening, and just absolutely wonderful in every way. I know it sounds like I’m fawning over the art — probably because I am. One character does artwork throughout the book, and you get to see some of it, and even that is wonderful in a weird, disturbing way. I spent much longer taking in the details of the strange layout (when Rob is tripping on LSD) than looking at the words that just described what he was seeing. The panels start to get wavy, start to weave into one another, and start to change shape when things get trippy — I feel this was a fantastic way to help the reader know what the characters were experiencing.

If you don’t have an open mind about drugs, sex, and horrible teenage actions, I would warn you away from this book. However, if you are open to that sort of thing, I would highly recommend it. Even the ‘sexual’ drawings, shoot, even the art from the pornographic magazines, didn’t feel out of place or negative. It all fit in so well with the content of the story, that I think it really worked. The only downside (if I can even call it that) is the confusing plot. I think on a second read, everything will clear up a bit. Though I know some of it won’t — that’s part of the mystery of the book; the full spreads of black pages with a few white, spiraling objects makes you question the story, the characters, and their motives. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and definitely plan to reread it soon.

Finals Week

Hello there loyal followers! I haven’t had a chance to do a post recently, for many reasons. Excuses include: reading three books at once, being busy with Mass Effect 3 and Assassin’s Creed, and lastly FINALS. I’ve had projects, papers, and ‘studying’ galore the past two weeks, and therefore haven’t had much time to read (it’s a lazy excuse, since I made time to play video games). Luckily, starting today, I’m on break until April 30th, when we start our May term class (a three week, three-hour-a-day class).

This week, I was expected to turn in a paper about feng shui for my Asian cultures class, turn in a screen adaptation of a story or book of my choice — I chose the prologue and first chapter of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss — for my film and literature class, and a creative project and researched rationale for said project for my British literature class. For that, we had to pick an author or story or something we focused on in class and do a project that had something to do with it. I chose to focus on “Love and Freindship” by Jane Austen. I wrote a series of letters to a male friend about interactions with two different female friends. It was a fun little study on how my attitude towards a friendship affects content of  interactions and conversations.

Along with all this, I was playing two games. I beat Mass Effect 3, and although the end was a little… brief… as you may have heard from the outcry from the online community, it was a good game. It was very fast paced and exciting. I still prefer Mass Effect 1, mostly because of the role-playing elements, but the gameplay in 3 was quite fun. I have also just started playing through the Assassin’s Creed games. I’m only a few hours into the first one, but it’s fun and I will probably end up spending a good amount of my break playing it. I will most likely also do another play through of Mass Effect 3, just for good measure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, as a sort of replacement for a review this week, I decided to do a preview of upcoming reviews. I am taking a graphic novel course for May term, and will probably review each of them here. We are planning to read both Maus I and II by Art Spiegelman, which I actually read last year, but never thought about reviewing. We are also reading Watchmen, which I didn’t realize… When I read Ghost World and 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, I also checked out Watchmen, and am about halfway through it. The other graphic novel that we plan to read is Black Hole by Charles Burns. Along with standalone graphic novels, we are looking at an anthology called Best American Comics 2011 which is attributed to editors Alison Bechdel, Jessica Abel, and Matt Madden and a book titled Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am, of course, still reading The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. I am about halfway through, and it’s quite enjoyable so far. I’m hoping to finish it and The Hero of Ages over break, and have the reviews up soon. On a bit of a side note, after my final final today, I plan to stop in at the North American Review at UNI to let them know I am interested in a job (writer, editor, whatever they have). The NAR is the first literary journal to be published in the US and has a great reputation. When I attend UNI next year, I’m really hoping to be able to work there. Wish me luck!

Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 2

I feel a tad sorry that I’ve been posting so few reviews, but I feel even worse that I’ve gotten to read so little lately. I was on break from school this whole past week, and I managed to read almost nothing and play many more video games than I’d gotten to play at school. I was replaying through Borderlands, which if you haven’t played… go buy it now! It’s been out for a few years, and it will be a great thing to have played when Borderlands 2 comes out. I’m also still playing through Lost Odyssey (currently on disc 3 of 4). I’ve also been burning through season 4 of Lost, which is getting really interesting… It was a nice break, but I’m excited to start reading again!

Another reason I’ve been avoiding reading more than necessary is the guilt I feel associated with only pleasure reading rather than the class reading I know I should be doing. That can really be attributed to the 3,000 page beast that is the Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 2. For my major British authors class, we’ve read a few selections from authors like William Blake, Mary Wallstonecraft, Jane Austen, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and many others for our Romantic Era unit. It turns out I’m not a huge fan of the Romantic Era… although I really enjoyed Austen’s “Love and Friendship,” a terrific satire of Romantic literature.

We are currently studying the Victorian Era, which is why we read the oh-so-lovely North and South, which I’ve expressed my views on… Luckily, we get to read some Oscar Wilde soon, so maybe that will save the Victorian Era for me.

Our next unit is “The Twentieth Century,” which I’m hoping will catch my interest more than the last two. We’re reading some Yeats, T.S. Eliot, Woolf, and I’m actually doing a presentation on the day we read selections from Jean Rhys and Louise Bennett. I haven’t really been enjoying this class as much as I hoped I would at the beginning of the term. We discuss the readings every day, and it gets really tedious having to talk about the same things class after class (we discussed North and South for six class periods).

I’m planning to get back into reading daily and finishing a book or two a week that isn’t related to class. I’m currently finishing up Three Kingdoms (for an Asian cultures class) and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, which I’m loving so far. I am hoping to get those reviews out this coming week, and get back on track when it comes to reading for pleasure.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

I read North and South for my major British authors class, while studying the Victorian Era. It starts off with a girl, Margaret, wistfully thinking of her girl/friend/companion/cousin, Edith, who is getting married and therefore leaving Margaret behind. It follows with a bunch of proposals to the main girl character.

The premise of the book is that Margaret’s father, a preacher, has been asked to reaffirm his faith in order to take a new position. His views are different than those of the Church of England, so he declines and the family moves to Milton, an industrial town. They previously lived in Helstone, a lovely place in southern England that is nothing like the smoky atmosphere of northern England.

The majority of the novel revolves around the rebellion of the mill workers against the masters, one of which is Mr Thornton, who has a fancy for Margaret which she does not requite. While this may sound interesting, it was long, wordy, and hard to enjoy.

This was my first Victorian novel, and let’s just say it will probably be my last. Margaret is supposedly really attractive in a strange way, which I suppose allows for the two guys she meets to almost immediately propose to her. I was really hoping that there would be at least some romance throughout to save the book, but Margaret was too focused on taking care of her ailing mother and father that that didn’t really happen.

We read this book over about six class periods, and it was really rough trying to keep up, because it was so long and prosy. I didn’t like most of the characters and am glad I’m done with the book. I would only recommend this to fans of books like Pride and Prejudice, and it’s just because that is the only thing I’ve read like this book.